Wimbledon – round 4th

All the fourth round action was scheduled on Monday but the rain thwarted the plans. Roger Federer and Mikhail Youzhny [33] had won their matches before others were canceled (Murray vs. Cilic 1-0, 3:1; Fish vs. Tsonga 1-0, 1:1; Kohlschreiber vs. Baker 3:1 & Mayer vs. Gasquet 1-0, 2:1). The Russian, who has natural grass-court game, has finally won a 4th round match at Wimbledon on 7th attempt. He had never been a favorite in those matches until this year because he faced Denis Istomin, for whom it was already career-best result. The first Uzbek [39] in such an advanced stage of a Grand Slam tournament almost made an upset. He had three mini-match points in the 5th set, Youzhny saved them with an ace and a forehand winner at 4:4, and the rival helped at 5:5 missing a backhand return on second serve.
Novak Djokovic – the biggest title contender after Nadal’s exit – extended his H2H against friend and doubles partner Viktor Troicki to 12-1. “There is a difference I think in the speed of the ball that travels through the air. I think it’s a bit slower than what it’s played outdoors,” said Djokovic, who played third straight match indoors! “I talked with Viktor who had his debut under the roof here, and he said it’s much slower than his previous matches.” Maybe it made an impact on the only Tuesday’s match indoors between Juan Martin del Potro and David Ferrer. The hard hitting Argentinian couldn’t dictate the pace and was broken many times. Actually Ferrer has found a pattern against DelPo. They played dramatic 5-setter in the Davis Cup final last year but since the deciding set then, Ferrer has won six straight sets against Del Potro not losing more than three games in a set! He reaches Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time (he had lost three times in the fourth round). The last Spaniard in the draw acted very calmly after the challenged match point, perhaps his self-confidence is so big he expects himself in the final. Tomorrow he meets Andy Murray, whom has beaten in the last two encounters quite convincingly. The Scot played very well against Marin Cilic snapping an 8-match winning streak of the Croat (11, counting his triumph at the The Boodles Challenge – exhibition event).
Also Philipp Kohlschreiber [30] will be participating in Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time, but the German didn’t play in the last 8 in any of Grand Slams before – he displayed a sensational service performance on court No. 12 against qualifier Brian Baker. Kohlschreiber beat Nadal two weeks ago in Halle and I assume it could be a tremendous boost of confidence for him. Kohli’s compatriot and peer Florian Mayer, beating Richard Gasquet in four quick sets, repeated his sensational result from 2004 when he advanced to the quarters in his Wimbledon debut (8th main-level tournament). It makes two Germans in Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time since 1997 (to be exact there were three Germans then, neither of them got the final). Generally it’s the best Wimbledon for the German tennis since 1991 because two German women met in the quarterfinal, Angelique Kerber beat Sabine Lisicki (both girls have Polish parents).
In the only match which was interrupted as many as three times by the rain, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame Mardy Fish 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-4 outhitting the American in aces too (20-17) to complete the quarter-final line-up; players spent 3 hours 18 minutes on Court No. 2. Prior to this match Tsonga held 73 consecutive service games (Fish broke him twice)! Fish [12] decided not to compete at the London Olympics in three weeks’ time. Last year between Wimbledon and Tokyo he notched the best period of his career, thus he’s a lot of points to defend and if he doesn’t find consistency he may be outside the Top 30 in Autumn this year.

Longest match: 4 hours 16 minutes – Mikhail Youzhny d. Denis Istomin 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5
Most aces: 23 – Philipp Kohlschreiber, defeated Brian Baker in three sets

5-set barometer: 17-10 Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 Denis Istomin